


Yet Here's A Spot

by creatureofhobbit



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 12:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2652824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liv is haunted by the actions she took to save Tyler from triggering his curse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yet Here's A Spot

Liv hasn’t told Tyler that she sees the guy’s blood on her hands every night, that she’s like Lady Macbeth, unable to wash the stains from her hands. She hasn’t told him that she wakes every night with the sound of his dying breaths ringing in her ears. She can’t do it to him. He’s happy now, safe in the knowledge that he hasn’t triggered his curse after all. As far as she can tell, Liv is the only one who thinks about the possibility that while the curse wasn’t triggered that time, that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen in the future, and Liv might not be able to save him that time. And if that was to happen, then Liv would have taken a life for nothing.

She knew how hard Tyler had tried to control his anger issues, how determined he’d been to make sure he never triggered his curse again. That’s what he’s saying now, that he’ll work even harder on his anger to make sure he repays her. And then that guy ran out in front of him, and it made Liv realise how easy it would have been for the curse to be triggered anyway, no matter what he did. Some ass didn’t look where he was going, and that one action would have ruined Tyler’s life for evermore.

Liv has asked herself every day since it happened whether there was any other way. That doctor, Jo, hadn’t thought there was anything else they could do for the guy apart from make him comfortable. But if Liv had known any other way of saving him, she’d have done it. It wasn’t that long since she’d resurrected half of Mystic Falls, for God’s sake. But all of those people had been on the Other Side, and this guy wouldn’t have. Besides, after Luke had stopped the spell, he’d made her promise she wouldn’t attempt that one again. They’d lost enough people over the years, and Luke didn’t want to lose Liv, too. Bonnie had told her once about the time she brought Jeremy back from the dead after Caroline’s mother accidentally shot him, and Liv wondered whether she could have done something somehow to stop that guy dying. But Bonnie had also told her about the consequences of that, how the witches weren’t happy with her for what she’d done and how she’d managed to bring back all those ghosts including Jeremy’s ex-girlfriends. Well, that wasn’t going to happen now the Other Side was gone (which wasn’t a bad thing, since she could certainly think of a few members of the Gemini coven she didn’t want coming back to haunt her), but she knew there would have to have been some form of reprisal. 

 

Tyler promised her that he wouldn’t waste what she had done for him. At the time, she’d believed him. At least, she’d believed he wouldn’t do anything deliberately. But then he’d made that stupid joke about how he’d rather turn than wear the tie, and she’d had to walk away before he could see the look in her eyes. She’d killed someone, she’d taken a life to save him, and Tyler was making jokes about it. Did he really have no clue? Did he not care what she had done for him? She wonders whether he realises that the reason she had made that stupid comment about his suit and then quickly walked away was so she could hide her initial reaction, _I killed the guy for you, and you’re making stupid jokes that you’d rather turn?_ , or whether he just thinks that it was her way of playing hard to get. Probably the latter.

As Liv turned and walked away from Tyler, she put down her tray of drinks and ran to the bathroom, scrubbing her hands until they were red and raw, and yet still she was convinced that she could see the blood on her hands once more.

Liv knows she should have listened to Luke when he’s tried to talk to her about it. “I kind of did the same, Liv,” Luke had said. “I stopped that spell because it was killing you. I saved you, and by doing that I stopped Damon Salvatore from crossing back over. Bonnie, too. And you didn’t know how to deal with that when it first happened, remember? You didn’t want to hear it when I tried to talk about it. In the end I gave up. But every time I saw Elena, I remembered all over again that Damon didn’t make it back because of me. You can’t hide it from me, Liv. I know you can’t really pretend it didn’t happen. I know you’re still thinking about it all the time. But maybe you should be honest with Tyler about that, too.”

She knows he’s right. Maybe if Tyler truly understands, he won’t make stupid comments like that any more. And if he doesn’t, well, she doesn’t need him. She’s got her brother to support her, and with his help, Liv knows she can get through this, and that’s what matters.


End file.
